TY - JOUR
TI - The Panstereomachia
AU - Barbara Gribling
PY - 2018
VL - 10
IS - Autumn 2018
KW - Visual and material culture
KW - technology
KW - science and art
KW - nineteenth century
KW - London
KW - medievalism
KW - heritage
KW - history of exhibitions
AB - ‘Panstereomachia. This title, as long as a man’s arm, belongs to an exhibition of a novel kind, which was opened on Monday, 19th June, 1826.’ Devised by Charles Bullock, the exhibit featured a large model of the ‘memorable battle of Poictiers’ where the English hero, Edward the Black Prince, defeated French forces in 1356.[1] The exhibit spoke to a burgeoning market for historically-themed exhibitions and a growing fascination with the Middle Ages in the nineteenth century. A key selling point of the exhibit was its mysterious name which alluded to a new type of exhibition experience. Yet the Panstereomachia was only one of many ‘educational’ exhibits which employed old and new technology to bring the past to life in order to edify and entertain new consumer audiences.
This essay will trace three exhibitions across the nineteenth century to assess how exhibitors drew on science and technology to offer competing visions of the medieval past. Moving from the Panstereomachia model, it will look at the introduction of medieval-themed figures and tableaux at Madame Tussaud’s from the mid nineteenth century before exploring the 1894 Heraldic Exhibition and the debate over the preservation of medieval artefacts. Underpinning this discussion are two key questions: What role did technology play in the ways in which people exhibited and accessed the past historically? How can visual and material culture inform our understanding of shifting notions of the Middle Ages?
N1 - Handbill for Mr C. Bullock’s Exhibition of the Memorable Battle of Poictiers c.1827
N1 - For further exploration of Agincourt and its post-medieval reinvention see Curry, 2015.
N1 - For further on the Panstereomachia and an increased interest in the Black Prince and his late medieval battles in the early nineteenth century see Gribling, 2017, pp 103, 126, 129.
N1 - Handbill for Mr C. Bullock’s Exhibition of the Memorable Battle of Poictiers c.1827
N1 - The novel Joe Oxford; or, the Runaway (pp 155–56) highlights Panstereomachia as one of the ‘ridiculous names coined almost daily, for the purpose of attracting people to new exhibitions of one sort or another’.
N1 - To give an impression of the size of the models the Literary Gazette (as cited on the Handbill) stated that the horses were ‘eight or nine inches high, and their riders, as well as the other human figures, in proportion’.
N1 - Clippings, ‘Panstereomachia; or, Battle of Poictiers, is now open, 209 Regent Street’, c.1826
N1 - See also the Handbill for Mr C. Bullock’s Exhibition of the Memorable Battle of Poictiers c.1827
N1 - The Literary Gazette as cited on the Handbill for Mr C. Bullock’s Exhibition of the Memorable Battle of Poictiers c.1827
N1 - According to Louise Baker, Madame Tussaud’s archivist, ‘the first orchestra was so good that when the exhibition was on progress around Britain between 1802 and 1835 they were regularly asked to perform concerts outside the attraction in churches, assembly halls and public spaces which, in turn, drew patrons back to the exhibition’. In 1890, The Ladies Pictorial noted how the orchestra often played popular music such as songs from the latest Gilbert and Sullivan opera, the Gondoliers.
N1 - For example, an 1893 advertisement highlighted the museum’s proximity to public transportation: Theatre Programs, ‘Visitors should not fail to see Madame Tussaud’s, adjoining Baker Street Station, Metropolitan railway’, 1893
N1 - Clipping, Leopold Wagner, ‘Counterfeit Presentments’ Undated. Book of Press Clippings, Madame Tussaud’s Archive, pp 189–90. Wagner’s article was likely penned in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
N1 - The author of an article in the Christian World, 21 August 1884 noted the impact of gas on how visitors interacted with the figures: ‘When the scene is lit up with gas and the band plays, you feel as you stroll about almost as much confused as one does in real life, when it is often hard to tell sham from reality, and when emphatically things are not what they seem.’
N1 - For details on the Black Prince’s costume see Madame Tussaud & Sons’ Exhibition. Insurance Catalogue. 1884–85. Madame Tussaud’s Archive.
N1 - The Black Prince’s armour was insured for £70. Madame Tussaud & Sons’ Exhibition. Insurance Catalogue. 1884–85. Madame Tussaud’s Archive.
N1 - For example, the 1869 catalogue noted that the prince ‘displayed extraordinary valour’ in his defeat of the French and his capture of King John. However, the guidebooks were not always correct. The 1869 guide noted that Edward captured the French king at Crécy rather than Poitiers. Madame Tussaud & Sons’ Exhibition, 1869, Catalogue containing Biographical and Descriptive Sketches of the Distinguished Characters which compose the unrivalled exhibition and historical gallery of Madame Tussaud and sons (London: Printed for G. Cole, by W.S. Johnson "Nassau Steam Press"), p 18. For images of Edward in adventure stories and histories see Gribling, 2017, pp 106–108, 130–132.
N1 - The 1873 guide contained a section which placed the British kings and queens in order (as they had not been able to do so in the exhibit) to ‘serve as a reference for young people, and to assist their memories’. Madame Tussaud and Sons’ Exhibition, 1873, p 37
N1 - Due to a fire in 1925 where many models were destroyed, this figure of King John may not have been identical to the original.
N1 - For further on the impact of the introduction of gas and, later, electricity in nineteenth-century museums see Swinney, 1999, pp 113–143; Swinney, 2002, ‘Museums, Audiences and Display Technology Attitudes to artificial lighting in the nineteenth century’.
N1 - Visitors to Tussaud’s would have encountered two figures of King John, both in the individual model and in the tableau (Sala, 1905, pp 1–2).
N1 - Albert Heuthing to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, letter 21 February 1890. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/1
N1 - Albert Heuthing to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, letter 21 February 1890. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/1. In his letter, Heuthing states that he wrote about the Black Prince’s tomb relics in The Times, 6 September 1872. There are only two articles in The Times that discuss the Black Prince, one on 5 September 1872 and another on the 7 September 1872. While articles exist on the 6 September 1872 discussing the fire, none of these specifically mention the Black Prince’s tomb. Heuthing likely wrote the unsigned article on the Canterbury Cathedral fire in The Times, 5 September 1872.
N1 - Charles H Read to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, letter 9 August 1894. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/2.
N1 - W H St John Hope to Canon Holland at Canterbury Cathedral, letter 27 April 1894. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/3/1. St John Hope wrote an article on the Black Prince’s achievements after the exhibition. Before it was published in Vetusta Monumenta, Hope presented his findings to the Society of Antiquaries on 31 May 1894. Hope, 1895
N1 - W H St John Hope to Canon Holland at Canterbury Cathedral, letter 27 April 1894. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/3/1
N1 - W H St John Hope to Canon Holland at Canterbury Cathedral, letter 27 April 1894. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/3/1
N1 - The Smithsonian is still using this technique. See the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ American flag conservation project.
N1 - Report (copy), 1923, ‘Tomb of the Black Prince: Report upon the Present conditions of the Achievements’, W D Caroe, C R Peers, Sydney C Cockerell, Canterbury Cathedral Archives Dcc/Fabric/24/6, p 5
N1 - The Society offered to pay up to £25 towards the purchase of a glass case. Society of Antiquaries of London. Council Book Volume 9, 3 July 1894; Charles H Read to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, letter 9 August 1894. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/2
N1 - Charles H Read to the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, letter 9 August 1894. Canterbury Cathedral Archives DCc Fabric 24/2. Prince Alfred was elected a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London on 13 June 1894. Society of Antiquaries of London, Council Book, Volume 9
N1 - Souvenir thieves were not new. Powhatan’s mantle (a cloak of deerskin held in the Ashmolean which had been thought to belong to the Chief Powhatan) suffered from souvenir thieves who took a number of shells that had been on the cloak.
N1 - Currently, Canterbury Cathedral is at the forefront of restoration on the Black Prince’s achievements https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/whats-on/news/2016/02/10/black-princes-achievements/
PB - The Science Museum Group
SN - 2054-5770
LA - eng
DO - 10.15180/181011
UR - http://journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/browse/issue-10/the-panstereomachia/
T2 - Science Museum Group Journal